CLOSER: 'Something in common'
by Danielle18
Summary: [CLOSER] Larry and Alice speak, not so politely, about the things they have in common... Anna, Dan and their pain.


_I just saw the movie 'Closer' and really liked the writing and dialogue; so I wanted to have a go at it. I basically just wanted to have a go at doing primarily dialogue, and chose the two characters that intrigued me most._

_**Something in common**_

"I can't imagine why she won't take you back"

His head lifted and upon looking into her face, lilted again; his chin resting on his chest, pathetically.

"Fuck off" he managed to slur.

"You're a real gem" she spoke again, sarcasm still dripping from her mouth, quite repulsively he thought; "…I honestly can't imagine"

"Ffff …" the sound lingered between them for a moment, but the ugly swear was unable to escape his mouth as bile rose in his throat and he was forced to concentrate on swallowing it back down.

A moment later he opened his eyes and lifted his head again, she was still standing there, looking out into the street, the asphalt glossy from a recent downpour.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered carefully.

"My shift is over" she didn't even bother to look down at him.

"I got kicked out" he murmured, placing his hands on the ground and trying to push himself up.

"Really?" she said, glancing at him and then back into the empty, black street. He supposed that she had assumed as much, judging from her tone.

"I wanted to test your 'no touching' rule…" he said, and then took a long pause while his lumbering, intoxicated body tried coordinating itself to stand. When his back was pressed firmly against the brick wall, he stopped himself for a moment, "…Venus wasn't as kind as you to give me a warning first…" he said, and finally beckoned his legs to hold stiff and support his weight enough to stand, somewhat still. "…Turns out you were right…there were cameras in the roof…"

Now she allowed him a longer, side-ways glance, her eyes holding stead-fast on his crooked face, before releasing her gaze and looking back out into the nothingness of the road.

"You failed to mention however, just how big the security guards were…"

"Sorry"

"Its alright… they were nice about it, I guess…."

"Not about that"

Her face had turned completely towards him, hazel eyes darkened and her cream skin aglow underneath a lamppost's light. "I'm sorry about you and Anna…."

"No your not"

Her brow creased, bemused. So was he. He didn't think himself in any state to be so quick with his tongue, or to even detect a person's truthfulness.

"Your right, I'm not" she breathed, her mouth a stern line, "not even a little".

"So, why'd you lie?" he caught himself, forcing a quick smirk before correcting his mistake; "Oh wait… it's the most fun a girl can have, isn't it?"

At this, she turned away, allowing a brief flutter of a smile against her lips. "I _want_ to be sorry… I should be…."

"Why?"

"Because you and I were both fucked over by the people we loved, and I should be able to sympathize with you…"

He waited a moment until her face turned back towards him, and he caught a glimpse of that fluttering smile; "…But I guess I don't like the thought of you and I having something in common". The smile disappeared as her eyes looked him up and down.

Surprisingly requiring little self thought regarding the coordinating of his body, Larry stepped close to her and raised his hand high…. It stayed there, in mid-air, teasingly, before dropping to his side. Alice didn't flinch once.

"Did _he_ ever hit you?" he suddenly asked.

"No"

His hand felt like lead suddenly, hanging limp. "I never hit her" he breathed, clenching that same hand. "She was afraid that I would, when she told me…."

"Did you ever _want_ to hit her?"

"I wanted to hurt her"

"But did you ever want to _hit_ her?"

His eyes had dropped to the ground; but now they awkwardly returned to her gaze, which still hadn't flinched.

"Hitting her wouldn't have hurt her"

"So why did you want to hit me?"

"When?"

She laughed an odd, flattering laugh. "Just now"

"I didn't want to hit you"

"But you were going to"

"You were being rude"

She laughed that same laugh again; and he couldn't help being slightly turned on as that laugh reverberated throughout the small alleyway.

"I wanted to hit him…" she breathed as her laughter died down into a giggle.

"When…?"

"When he told me" she breathed, and hugged herself against the cold, "he said that he fell in love with her and I wanted to hit him, because he said it as though he had no control… as though it wasn't his fault…that it'd just happened"

"Prick"

"No!" her voice was hard and abrupt, and when he looked, her forehead was creased and her eyes glimmering.

"He had an affair with _my _wife"

"Your wife had an affair with _my_ boyfriend"

They stood, looking at one another, unflinching and cold as the morning crept upon them, the air biting. Larry broke their stare; looking down the road to where traffic could be heard on a main street somewhere behind a block of flats.

"Do you want to come back to my place…" he said, turning back to her.

She shook her head and smiled, which made his eyes gleam with rage and his lips thin. He looked away again, and was about to say something uncalled for and cruel when… she stepped closer, laid her hands flat on his chest, reached up and placed her delicate lips on his hard mouth.

* * *

Her fingers traced a powder blue vase.

"Wedding gift" he choked a little

Alice removed her hands, "did she wear white?"

"Fuck off"

She smiled a little and walked briskly over to the other side of the room, to a bare table.

"She isn't here anymore"

He looked up from the liquor cabinet, "of course she bloody isn't here"

"I mean none of her…." Alice looked up, her hand on the table, "not even a photograph…"

"She left me"

"You were married"

"Only for a few months"

"Still…"

"Do you have pictures of _him_?"

"There's one in my wallet, do you want to see?" she walked over to the couch, where her bag lay.

"No!" he said, in a low husky voice, shoving ice violently into a glass so that it didn't even chink. "Why the fuck would you keep pictures of him?"

"Because I love him"

Larry stopped pouring and looked up; she was admiring a painting above the fireplace now; "How?"

She didn't turn around; "He left me… I didn't leave him…."

"And…."

"And… I didn't get a chance to stop loving him"

Larry finished pouring and walked towards her; "him cheating on you isn't enough to make you stop loving him?"

"I guess not"

He handed her a glass; "so why are you here?"

She brought it to her lips but didn't drink, instead looking up at him as the glass touched her lower lip, and then she lowered it; "you mean, why aren't I standing outside his door howling at the moon?" she smiled.

"I mean, if you still love him then why do you want to be with me?"

She quickly brought the glass to her lips and swallowed the yellow liquid in one gulp; handing it back to him, empty. As he held both glasses, she brought a hand slowly to rest against his face, cupping one cheek. Holding his gaze for a trick eternity, she then retrieved her hand.

"Are you implying that we had a moment?"

"Once"

"I forgot"

"I bet you did"

Still holding both glasses, he leaned down and quickly kissed her lips. "I want you" he managed to murmur.

She stepped back, took the glasses from his hands and placed them on the ground. "Then have me" she said, standing back up.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her, hard and clumsy again until he heard her moan.

* * *

"You're beautiful" he said, twirling a piece of her hair with his finger.

She rolled onto her side and starred into his still glazed eyes. "Thank you"

He stopped twirling, and looked hard at her, "don't start that again"

"My name really is Jane you know"

He quickly sat up and threw the covers offs, walking naked into the bathroom.

"You don't have to be so rough all the time" she called out.

At that he reappeared in the doorway; "I'm rough?"

She nodded.

"Is he gentle?"

"Who"

"Prick"

"Dan?"

"Yes! The prick Dan!" he spat

"Yes, he's gentler."

"_Fuck_!" punching the door's frame.

"Wait…" she started, "how do you mean 'gentler',"

He reappeared, "sex…I mean when you had sex was he…."

"Oh" she interrupted him, "Yes, yes he's gentler than you"

"Fuck!" he said again, disappearing into the bathroom.

"Is that bad?"

"It's what she said"

"That bitch?"

"Don't!" he warned, reappearing for a second in the doorway, before disappearing.

Alice sat up, pulling the covers around her. "Why do you love her?" she asked quietly, but Larry heard all the same.

"Why do you love _him_?"

"Because he's gentle"

He had a warning look in his eye, but she persisted; "so, what's your excuse?"

He didn't answer. She knew he could hear, but he didn't answer. Maybe he didn't know.

She got up, dragging on a sparkling dress of diamantes, and then reached for her trench coat which she tied tightly. Walking to the bathroom door she stood and saw him leaning against the sink bench, looking pitiful.

"Maybe you just enjoy kissing toads?" she said, as he looked up.

"I thought it was frogs?" he whispered.

Alice shook her head, "No, Anna's definitely a toad…."

And with that, she turned on her heel and headed towards the door.


End file.
